Sheffield United don't cross much, but why? Sam, David and Riley discuss the trend and share thoughts on Rak-Sakyi's dip in form, our level of control and whether a regression is on the horizon.

State of Play 1.02 | The Pinch pod is back to talk takeovers. Is it on? And if so, what happens next? What approach might would-be new owners take? What does it mean for Wilder, for transfers and for the fan experience?

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Too often, we judge the competition over the early part of the season. We wanted to re-rate every team in the Championship to see who are the biggest threats and easiest targets. So we’ve predicted the final league table, hunch vs heft, man vs sim, and Sam vs Riley (adjudicated by David).

Sam, David and Riley take a deep dive into the performances of Sydie Peck, Callum O'Hare, Alfie Gilchrist and Tyrese Campbell. With a long Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday slog ahead of the Blades, all four players will play a big part over the next few months. What can we expect? Is there room for improvement? Are they doing enough now?

LISTEN IN | Blades, fresh off the back of three wins in a row, take on the noisy neighbours for the first time in almost 5 years. Does form go out of the window? Do Wednesday pose a threat? Why Blades are rightful favourites, and does being the underdog make a difference?

In this episode, we’re measuring the Blades's performances against a few different metrics to calculate the height of our ceiling and the depth of our floor.

Rise and Fall

From firm favourites for the drop and pundit premonitions of getting ‘annihilated’, to ninth in the top flight and discussions on whether the Blades could even make the Champions League, and finally to a post-lockdown descent into disappointment, departures and a merciful return to the Championship, our previous short stint in the Premier League was a hell of a ride.

In the third and final part of this series, we look at our two seasons back in the big time – from dreamland to nightmare. Joining us is senior BBC journalist and former Sheffield United correspondent for Yorkshire Live, Nathan Hemmingham, who lifts the lid on Wilder’s unique warmth, why our second season in the Premier League went wrong, and what it was like to cover football during COVID restrictions.

The Class of 18/19

If you go to a pub in Ireland, you have to have a song. And if you don’t have a song, you might as well not go to the pub at all. Wise words of warning from John Egan: but at the time he said this, there was no risk of silence in S2. Sheffield United’s 2018/19 season was music to our ears.

Part two of our trilogy of podcasts on the Chris Wilder 1.0 era sees the club established back in the Championship with a strong previous season. A wobble at the start (the usual) was rectified pretty quickly. Results went our way. Then a few more. And a few more. The odd loss here and there meant it was a race for second and a barely believable return to the top flight with our bunch of frees, outcasts and misfits. We were introduced to Zinedave Zigoldrick. We got Stearmaned. Billy Sharp scored goals. Basham arrived. We forgot the maths: the Premier League beckoned for Sheffield United.

Joining us for this episode is Output Editor at Sky Sports and former deputy news editor at The Athletic, Kate Burlaga, who brings her usual poetry and prose to a fairytale period in the club’s history.

Welcome to the Wildest Ride, a three-part podcast on Sheffield United from 2016-2021: a magical time that saw the Blades drag themselves from the middle of League One to the top half of the Premier League.

Part one focuses on that first season, when Chris Wilder and Alan Knill arrived at a club on its knees, ripped up the rulebook and concocted a team of centurions. Join us to chart a course from the lap of dishonour to Billy Sharp atop the shoulders of fans on a sunny day in Northampton.

Listen now | Sam and Riley talk Swans and take stock of four summer recruits: Harry Souttar, Harrison Burrows, Callum O'Hare and Kieffer Moore.